Lonnieburger Baskets: Senate

The sign isn't imposing on the front of Senate in what's being called the Gateway Quarter but is really just a gentrified lower Over the Rhine, but the burgers are the straight up bomb diggity.

How bomb diggity, you ask?  Well, let me school you.

Burger

• This is what burgers are supposed to be like.  The meat was flavorful.  The crust was well developed with sacrificing the center to overdoneness.  The patty was juicy.  There was spice in there but nothing strong enough to stand out and overpower the straight up beef.  Burger - 9

Toppings

• I hate that my camera won't take better photos in the typical lower light atmosphere of a restaurant without a flash.  Seriously, at some point I'm just going to throw up a fingerpainting that I find online and claim that it's a burger or something.  Might as well.  Maybe I'm going to have to such it up and use the frickin' flash.  It's an annoyance not to have good photos, but using the bring flash in a restaurant seems so rude to the other patrons.
  
  Sorry...I'm ranting.
  
  This place makes their own pickles, and they're sharp - a strong, garlicy, kosher dill.  Take that, Calen.
  
  Their cheese is high quality and well melted.  Their onions are caramelized to a dark brown.  Their mayo is spiced up and not too heavily applied.  The lettuce is fresh.  The toppings stand up easily to the burger itself.  Toppings - 8

Fries

• Top picture's mine.  Bottom pic's from Wine Me, Dine Me's review of Senate.  (Look at me giving credit all over the place.) 
  
  Senate serves their fries in a pint glass, and they offer up two options: duck fat fries or truffle fries.  This place is, as they claim themselves, very much about the upscale street food.  The duck fat fries are to die for...straight up phenomenal with a rich flavor that can't be achieved in a vat of peanut or vegetable oil.  This is a potato fried up in the flesh of an animal.  This is quality stuff.
  
  The truffle fries have a richness highlighted with herbs and a slight amount of garlic and salt.  They're good stuff too.  They'd earn a nine in their own rights, but the duck fat fries are the bomb diggity.  Fries - 10

Ambiance

• First pic's mine, facing the back of the place.  Second one's from Wine Me, Dine Me facing the front.  Third one's from Mahalo on a chilly day from just in front of Senate.  The last two are from 5chw4r7z.
  
  Senate is hip and trendy and happening.  We were there on a Winter Break Thursday night (12/29/10) and had to wait about forty-five minutes (the hostess/owner had said it might be an hour and a half, but we took the first available at the bar and chatted her up to be all friendly - ok, The Girl's Mom chatted the owner up.  I have stranger danger, are you happy you dragged that out of me?  Are you?)  According to the owner/hostess, that kind of wait was a bit excessive for a weeknight, but there was a show at the theater across and down the block that night.
  
  The set up is a simple one with a long bar- concrete, clearly cast in place, kinda awesome - along one side with a single row of tables against the opposite wall.  The two walls are plain, old brick with minimal decoration (a single wooden alcove on one side, the liquor and a row of mirrors on the opposite).  At the back is a single, gorgeous wooden top wall above the very much open and active kitchen.  On the night we were there, the alcove and wooden wall were decorated very plainly with holiday wreaths.
  
  The place is all hard surfaces and action and buzz and happening.  It's a great place to go for an active, city-loving night.  Ambiance - 10  

Cost

• That's the lobster mac & cheese. 
  
  They serve truffle fries.
  
  This isn't the place to go for a $5 burger.
  
  From their menu...burger $12...bacon $1...duck fat fries $6 (truffle fries $5)...coke ended up being free (I'll mention why in a minute.)...that's $19 for a burger and fries.  That's an issue, but I didn't feel cheated in the least.  Cost - 1 

Other Stuff

• First, crediting, in order from the top...Cincinnati Profile...Cincinnati Readventure (x2)...Cincinnati Malavita (x2)...Cincinnati Bites...Sugarlush (x2)...
• In case you hadn't noticed, Senate also serves hot dogs.  They have a couple of standards on the menu, plus they announce a daily special on their Facebook page each day.  Then there's their poutine and their pretzel beignet.  I didn't try either when we were there.  
• They sell poutine.  There's now a place in Cincy where I can try poutine. +1
• So, about that free diet coke.  I ordered bacon on my burger, and they forgot to put it on.  They charged me the $1 anyway.  -1  But then I noticed that they didn't charge me anything for my diet coke - which would probably cost more than the $1 bacon.  +1 back 
• Senate is the kind of place that lets me think that I'm a part of a city, a real, live city.  I don't necessarily want to live in the heart of such a city all the time, but I love that I can visit it. +1
• The owners both were incredibly friendly.  One was the hostess and the other the head chef.  Both were very chatty and welcoming to The Girl's Mother.  +1 
• Senate is helping revitalize Over the Rhine, an absolutely horrible, rough neighborhood.  It's the part of town that everyone is scared of - or at least used to be, and it's the drug neighborhood shown in the movie Traffic.  +1 
• We sat at the end of the bar, and the bartenders were incredibly chatty and friendly.  They were entertained by our burger quest and made a few recommendations - Terry's and Wildflower, in particular.  They were pretty knowledgeable about the Cincinnati mag article and some of the other highly-rated finishers.  The particularly recommended checking out Wine Me, Dine Me's list of top burgers in the city - all of which I heartily agree with (other than #4 which I haven't tried yet). +1
• Full bar service.  +1

That's an impressive score overall...Senate gets 43...

If they were cheaper, they'd be higher up.  They make an awesome burger with some kick-arse fries.

My thoughts about the cost echo those of a commenter on Cincinnati Bites:

Here's the deal: I've left every meal there thinking I got a bargain! Nope, not independently wealthy, but I've only had dinner there, and I guess I have them lumped in the "expensive" category, so splitting an appetizer (Poutine is too rich to do solo) and ordering a $9 entree seems like a bargain. I've spent 3x as much on very underwhelming food at Lavomatic several times, so I guess Senate for dinner feels well priced.

This is high quality food that is worth paying for.  I didn't feel chintzed in the least.  The Girl and I, in fact, left incredibly happy about our meals and craving more.

Here's where they rate...

• Terry's Turf Club - 45
• Cafe de Wheels - 44
• Senate - 43
• Five Guys Burgers and Fries - 36 
• Roxy's - 36
• VanZandt - 34
• Gabby's - 34 
• Oakley Pub & Grill - 34 
• Quatman's - 32 / 34.5
• Troy's - 32
• Graffiti Burger - 27
• Arthur's - 26
• Sammy's - 25 

I'm all caught up now and don't know where's next.  Any suggestions at the moment?  We certainly still have a bunch of options left from the Cincinnati mag article, but I'm always wondering.

By the way, just happened upon the Frankenburger image that accompanied the Cincinnati mag burger article this past summer...enjoy...